'I was waiting for the worst'

Published 1:00 am, Wednesday, February 8, 2006

DANBURY - Girlene Soares was "waiting for the worst" when a Superior Court jury filed in to the courtroom Tuesday morning to announce the verdict in her murder case.

Then, a few tense minutes later, she cried tears of joy and hugged her lawyer when she learned the jury of seven men and five women acquitted her of murder, two counts of manslaughter and negligent homicide.

Soares, 27, an undocumented worker from Brazil, was charged after she stabbed her husband, Jose Luis DaSilva Oliveira, on July 5, 2004, at about 1 a.m. He died after he was stabbed once in the heart with a kitchen knife from the bedroom of their Keeler Street apartment.

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"There is a God in disguise," Soares said after the verdict through public defender,
Vicki Hutchinson
, of Danbury. "Thank you to God, and I was waiting for the worst. I know that God knows the truth."

Soares, who stayed in state custody after the verdict, made the statements to her lawyer, who repeated them to reporters gathered at the courthouse.

A clerk read each of the four charges, and after each charge, the foreman announced the decision. There were gasps in the courtroom as the "not guilty" verdicts were announced, but Soares stayed quiet. Hutchinson said there was "only crying," no words coming from Soares.

When the jury foreman announced the "not guilty" verdict for the murder charge, Soares, who was standing, put her head down and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. She continued crying while a "not guilty" charge was read for each of the manslaughter charges. When the foreman pronounced her "not guilty" of the last charge, negligent homicide, she hugged Hutchinson and smiled, crying at the same time. Soares then sat down and put her hand to her face.

Hutchinson said her client has an immigration hold on her and will likely be deported, so she will probably not be released from custody until she is in Brazil. Soares is an undocumented immigrant, having come to the United States illegally through Mexico.

Of her three children who live in Brazil, Soares said "I love them, and I'm coming back to them."

After the verdict, Soares was taken to the courthouse lock-up area, where she was to be transported to
York Correctional Institution
, which is the state's women's prison in Niantic. Then, immigration officials were to take over, Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said her client is still in shock but was very grateful for her defense. She called Hutchinson her "angel."

During the trial, Soares, who testified through a Portuguese-speaking interpreter, told jurors she would sometimes run from her apartment and hide from her husband in between parked cars. She would fall asleep on the streets at times, she said.

Soares claimed she killed her 31-year-old husband in self-defense during a night of arguing that included physical assaults. Her husband wanted money from her for drugs, she said.

Hutchinson presented expert witnesses during the trial, which began Jan. 19. Witnesses said Soares suffered from battered women's syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her husband had been convicted twice of assaulting her.

If jurors had convicted her of murder, she could have faced a life sentence. The manslaughter charges both carry 20 years in prison and negligent homicide is punishable by one year in prison. Soares has been in a state prison since the killing.

Prosecutors contended that Soares intended to kill her husband and suggested Soares wanted to get rid of her husband because she had a new boyfriend.

After the verdict, prosecutor
Debbie Mabbett
said "the jurors had a difficult decision to make and we respect their decision."

None of Soares' family members or friends were present. There were people in the courtroom who Soares knew from the state public defender's office, and she turned to them and smiled after the verdict.

Marilene Figueroa
, Jose Luis's cousin, and his sister,
Gizely Maria da Silva Oliveira
, were at the courtroom Tuesday waiting for the verdict. Oliveira's sister was crying hard after the decision was announced, and Figueroa said "we're doing okay."

Figueroa said she suspects the jurors didn't want to convict Soares because they wanted her children to at least have a mother. Soares' three children are living in Brazil with her late husband's mother. "The jury thinks about the kids of Girlene, " Figueroa said.

The jury panel refused to comment on their decision as they left the courthouse Tuesday.

However, one of the alternates, who did not deliberate but heard the evidence, said she cried frequently during the trial and was hoping for an acquittal.

The alternate returned to court Tuesday morning to wait for a verdict and tears streamed down her face when she heard Soares was acquitted. "I'm so happy for her," she said.

Hutchinson said she isn't surprised by the outcome. "I'm elated," Hutchinson said. "They came to the right conclusion."